Kosuke Kimura

Kosuke Kimura

Kimura playing with the Colorado Rapids (MLS) 2011
Personal information
Date of birth (1984-05-14) May 14, 1984
Place of birth Kobe, Japan
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current team
 Rayo OKC
Number 27
Youth career
1998–2002 Kawasaki Frontale
2003–2006 Western Illinois Leathernecks
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004 Thunder Bay Chill 13 (0)
2007–2012 Colorado Rapids 117 (4)
2012 Portland Timbers 17 (1)
2013–2014 New York Red Bulls 37 (0)
2015 Widzew Łódź 12 (0)
2015 Atlanta Silverbacks 19 (0)
2016– Rayo OKC 33 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Kosuke Kimura (木村光佑 Kimura Kōsuke) (born May 14, 1984) is a Japanese footballer currently playing for Rayo OKC in the North American Soccer League. A long-time veteran of Major League Soccer, he has also played in Poland. He was the first player in MLS history who was born in Japan.[1]

Career

Kimura with Colorado Rapids in 2012

College and amateur

Kimura's career in organized soccer began with the youth team of Kawasaki Frontale. By the age of 15, he played for the Kawasaki Frontale reserve team. A foot injury at age of 17 hampered his opportunity to sign a professional contract with the club.[2] Despite this, he would eventually earn an athletic scholarship to play college soccer at Western Illinois University after moving to the United States, where he took an intensive English-language course and the SAT, on which he achieved a near-perfect score on its mathematics section.[1] A four-year letterman with the Leathernecks from 2003 to 2006,[3] he also played with the Thunder Bay Chill of the USL Premier Development League.[4]

Professional

Kimura was drafted by Colorado Rapids in the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft,[5] and in doing so became first Japanese-born player in the history of Major League Soccer.[6] He was a bit-part player for much of his first two seasons, playing four games in his rookie season, and featuring in 18 games in 2008, 17 as a starter. He scored his first career goal on May 2, 2009, in a game against Real Salt Lake.[7] During the 2010 playoffs, he scored the game-winning goal against San Jose that sent the Colorado Rapids to MLS Cup 2010. Kimura then played for a full 90 minutes (plus 30 minutes of extra time) to help the Colorado Rapids capture the MLS Cup against FC Dallas with a 2-1 victory in Toronto, Ontario. While with Colorado Kimura appeared in 117 league matches and scored 4 goals.

Kimura was traded to Portland Timbers in exchange for allocation money and an international roster slot in July 2012.[8] Five months later, Kimura was traded to New York Red Bulls along with a second-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft in exchange for Home Grown Player rights to Bryan Gallego and allocation money.[9] On March 3, 2013 Kimura made his official debut for New York starting for his new club in a 3-3 draw against his former club Portland Timbers.[10]

Following the 2014 season, New York announced that it would not exercise its 2015 contract option on Kimura.[11]

In February 2015, Kimura signed with Polish side Widzew Łódź.[12]

In July 2015, Kimura signed with Atlanta Silverbacks of the North American Soccer League.[13]

In January 2016, he signed with expansion Rayo OKC.[14]

Personal

Kimura holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.[15]

Honours

Colorado Rapids

New York Red Bulls

References

  1. 1 2 Bell, Jack. "Determination and Hard Work Distinguish Defender for Rapids," The New York Times, Tuesday, September 14, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Rapids' Kimura's dream takes him halfway around world". asiaxpress.com. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  3. ↑ Kosuke Kimura (profile) – Western Illinois University Athletics.
  4. ↑ Thunder Bay Chill highlights.
  5. ↑ "Stats Centre: Kosuke Kimura Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  6. ↑ Nguyen, Joe (2009-05-15). "Rapids' Kimura's dream takes him halfway around world". AsiaXpress.com. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  7. ↑ http://web.mlsnet.com/scoreboard/game.jsp?match=05022009_RSLCOL
  8. ↑ http://www.coloradorapids.com/news/2012/07/rapids-acquire-allocation-money-international-slot-portland-kimura
  9. ↑ http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/12/03/timbers-send-kimura-draft-pick-red-bulls-allocation-homegrown-rights
  10. ↑ "Portland Timbers 3 New York Red Bulls 3". mlssoccer.com. 3 March 2013.
  11. ↑ http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/news/2014/12/red-bulls-announce-contract-options-not-being-exercised-2015-season
  12. ↑ https://twitter.com/iamkosukekimura/status/566547015820398593
  13. ↑ http://www.nasl.com/news/2015/07/02/silverbacks-sign-defender-kosuke-kimura-
  14. ↑ http://www.nasl.com/news/2016/01/21/rayo-okc-adds-veteran-presence-with-michel-kimura-signings
  15. ↑ German Sferra (January 17, 2012). "Rapids have four International roster slots available". Colorado Rapids. Retrieved November 13, 2014.


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